We’ve retired the HB100 horn logo (HB200, here we come!), and I am a fan of designer Denise Maldonado’s digital illustration, above, with its similarly eye-catching graphic appeal. I read the image as: “The Horn Book and…” It is a theme that serendipitously runs throughout this issue of the magazine.

The piece was created for “The Horn Book & the Ampersand” on page 18. Nancy Upper lays out the case that, from the very beginning, The Horn Book ­Magazine “was an ampersand!” Citing both Bertha Mahony Miller’s first editorial in 1924 and Martha V. Parravano’s 2016 editorial “&,”  in the May/June special issue on collaboration, Upper says, “I have always found the magazine to stand on four principles — connection, creativity, interaction, and rapport.” High praise indeed! She delves into tantalizing linguistic and bibliophilistic detail — pressed into hornbooks(!), the ampersand was considered the twenty-seventh letter of the ­alphabet — and makes connections to children’s books today.

Cathryn M. Mercier’s Horn Book Reminiscence on page 20, “Horn Book Editors I’ve Known and Loved Before,” picks up on the themes of Horn Book history and interconnectivity. The Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons University is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary and Simmons its ­quasquicentennial (say that five times fast!), and Mercier, the center’s director, has worked closely with five of the Horn Book’s eight editors. Another longtime Friend of the Horn Book, Celia C. Pérez, provides a Reminiscence about her myriad roles, beginning with reviewer, continuing as contributor, and as a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award honoree for her novel The First Rule of Punk. On page 22 she shares some of those memories along with her “Horn Book Treasures.” The Reminiscences series continues at hbook.com, including one by Betsy Groban, whose latest article, on Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson (which doubles as an appreciation of Philip Nel’s 2012 book about them), is on page 8 of this issue.

“You might think of children’s books as a conversation between kids and creators that spans the generations, with roots like a family tree.” A unique and welcome perspective on working together comes from Emma Otheguy on page 12, in an interview with Emily Carrero Mustelier, who has translated some of Otheguy’s books into Spanish. In a lively and thoughtful conversation, the two discuss their own “generational ties” and how those bonds help influence the creative work they do. Otheguy’s early reader Reina Ramos: Neighborhood Helper is part of Adrienne L. Pettinelli’s “Beginning Reader Roundup 2025,” starting on page 29; and for the very youngest, Rachel G. Payne explores “The Fabric of Baby Books” on page 24.

Shifa Saltagi Safadi’s original poem, “When Fingers Are Fearless” on page 15, is a lyrical appreciation of her name, an homage to the power of the written word, and a musing on the evolutionary nature of courage: “My name is Shifa, / my fingers are fearless, / and for now, / that is / enough.” Safadi is the 2024 National Book Award winner in the Young People’s Literature category for Kareem Between, and her words carry a reminder for those who are feeling alone, apart, frightened, and unmoored. Reading can change lives, whether offering strength, solace, distraction, understanding, a call to action, a good laugh, a good cry, or whatever else might be needed in a particular moment. Of those in her own strong network, Otheguy writes about being “connected as book lovers before we ever met.” For many that is a ­foundational belief — and it serves as a heartening message today.

From the March/April 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

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